My experience with AI/Machine Learning is mostly as a user and application developer. This eye-tracking project was one of my first personal development ideas that I brought to life. In undergrad, I took an intro to AI course and learned the basics: motivation, history, basic models, and applications. Computer Vision continues to motivate exciting use cases for me, and I’ve found a cool tool for my next project! BlazePose 🔗Google Research published the original BlazePose paper in 2020 demonstrating an accurate body pose tracking model which could run on generally accessible hardware (30 frames/second on a Pixel 2!

The tech industry seems to have captivated many with its seemingly mystical ways of enhancing everyday life to its ability to cause massive destruction in terms of the sociopolitical threads of society to the dangers of cybercrime. I was not immune to this allure of this world. In fact, I was drawn to it. I wanted to understand it. So I followed this curiosity and have joined the ranks of many as a tech career-changer.

Martin Eden is a novel about a working-class young man who stumbles into the world of the bourgeoisie. He discovers philosophy and commits his entire life to attaining knowledge, pursuit of his bourgeois lover, and writing. Set in late-nineteenth century Oakland, the book offers a view of philosophy and society through the trials and tribulations of the namesake character. I am interested in classic American authors, and will often pick up books by them from little free libraries (of course, exchanging a book) or second-hand stores.

26.2 Miles 🔗Not more than a couple of years ago I had been known to say “why would anyone pay to run?”. In addition to my character development through the cliche never say never, I had talked with a close friend who had finished his first marathon and I desperately needed motivation to exercise. Tres completed the Austin marathon in early 2022. We had been hanging out virtually over video game sessions, like we had been since the pandemic began in early 2020.

When thinking of running in Phoenix, trail systems like Phoenix Mountain Preserve, The Green Belt, and the canals may be first to come to mind, but Fountain Hills is the best place to run in Phoenix in my opinion. I’ve been marathon training here for the last six months (yes, through the heat of summer) and have come to appreciate it compared to other areas in the East Valley. With it’s own lake trail, multiple hiking trails, and quiet streets, there are plenty of opportunities for all runners.

The Backyard Adventurer is a collection of lived experiences of the YouTuber Beau Miles. It connects Miles’s lifestyle pillars of adventuring, fitness, making, and Australia in a practical, unpolished way that stays true to his character. YouTube subscribers will recognize the stories in The Backyard Adventurer, but experience new perspectives and context that enhance the familiar events that define Miles’s adventurer resume. Miles’s YouTube channel offers an array of adventuring, building, and Q&A videos with beautiful cinematography, crisp audio, and enticing thumbnails.

My frontend experience is very limited. For a long time, I was resistant to tools and frameworks. I would prefer vanilla JavaScript, HTML, and CSS over React, Vue, or Angular. I picked up just enough ops experience to clumsily make updates to websites, but I’ve recently found a much better system using Hugo and GitHub Actions. Hugo 🔗Even though I’m comfortable editing HTML, I much prefer writing in markdown. Thus, I set out looking for a way to convert markdown to HTML.

It’s not the first time I’ve tried and failed at this, but it’s definitely the biggest failure I’ve had. This might be the final nail in the coffin for this venture. Achieving real, tangible, impactful success is so much harder than I had thought. An Idea is Born 🔗When I was an undergrad at Wisconsin I struggled and ultimately wasn’t admitted to my program - mechanical engineering. I wasn’t accepted into the Engineering School at all, even after strategically applying to whichever specific program had the highest acceptance rate.